


Pocket Monsters from Beyond Tomorrow!

by Sylibane



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Old Sci-Fi Tropes, Original Pokemon Region, Work In Progress, mild violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2020-05-15 00:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19284370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylibane/pseuds/Sylibane
Summary: Fearful of the “monsters” that fill the outside, Morrowtown has isolated itself for decades. But when a stranger and his Pokémon crash into their lives, two kids find themselves on a journey with him into the wilds.





	1. It Came From Above!

_"Beware the monsters!”_

The images of two beasts, a shadowy blob with a smirk and a bulkier creature with a single horn on its forehead, filled the screen at the front of the classroom. With a roar and a shriek, they flung themselves at each other.

_"That’s right, monsters!”_ the narrator boomed as they grappled. _“Creeping through the forests and deserts, filling the seas and skies, turning the world into a nightmare for any human they find! Even to this day, they linger outside our community, looking for a way in to destroy everything that we have achieved!”_

“We _know_ ,” Arlene groaned, leaning back in her chair. “We’re not babies!”

“Maybe they thought we’d forgotten,” Tony said, glancing to the side of the screen. It didn’t look like Ms. Wilson paid any attention to their whispering in the back.

The screen had changed to a smaller creature, with long ears and a strange tail bent in multiple places, leaping from rock to rock. The graininess of the footage could only capture its attacks as bursts of white.

_"Even the smallest monster is capable of harming a helpless human being! They live only to fight one another, ruining everything in their path! For much of human history, we lived in fear of them, struggling to do more than survive!”_

“Look, if they’re going to go on about monsters, they could at least show one attacking someone,” Arlene muttered. “It doesn’t have to be real! Just use a scene from a movie!”

The next image, a horde of walking plants parading among ruined buildings, melted into the taller buildings of the downtown area, steel and glass walls glinting in the dome light. A small boy and girl ran down the street, their exasperated-but-smiling mother not far behind, as the monorail swept by on its tracks. A robot drove past them, scooping up litter and disposing of it in its chest, followed by two men comparing the screens of their data boxes.

_"But now, thanks to Morrowtown, we are safe from these horrors! Safe and secure, we can continue to study the world and make the scientific advancements necessary to bring humanity into the future! Soon, we can rescue our fellow humans trapped in the wilderness, retake our planet, and even reach for the stars!”_

The town disappeared, leaving behind a man in a suit with perfectly neat hair and the thin traces of a mustache.

_"Hello, there,”_ he said with a smile. _“I’m Dr. Gideon, the head scientist here in Morrowtown, and_ _I'd like to welcome you to your introductory course in Monster Studies.”_ He chuckled. _“I know, scary stuff, right? But we can’t be afraid if we ever hope to confront these beasts and grow beyond Morrowtown. I know you all will find this an excellent educational opportunity. Why, some of you might even choose a career track in monstrous biology!”_

Tony sat up and slid forward in his chair. How much were they really going to tell them? His classmates seated in front of him were murmuring among themselves; one head turned in his direction for a moment. Even Arlene was watching the screen without some smart-aleck comment.

_“There’s a lot to learn, so we’ll start small today with the basics of monsters.”_ Dr. Gideon clapped his hands together. _“Okay? Let’s get started.”_

He disappeared, the image on the screen changing to a stone wall, covered in rough drawings of humans and others.

_“Monsters have been on this planet as long as we humans have, if not longer, so they’ve been a problem for a very long time,”_ he continued in the voice-over, the camera panning across the cave art. _“Humans spent a lot of time fighting off monsters or trying to appease some so they wouldn’t hurt us. Some humans even claimed to have become friends with monsters, but that really meant that the monsters were using them instead of hurting them directly because it was easier. So not only are monsters stronger than us, they can be very clever too.”_

The screen now showed a sketch of people wrapped in rags, poking at the barren soil with sticks. A fat monster with small ears and closed eyes loomed over them, mouth half-open to show its fangs. Tony was pretty sure that he’d seen that picture before in one of the other school modules.

_“It was not an easy life for humans, but we were able to make some pretty big scientific discoveries, from better farming to cars and electricity to the very first computers. And it’s thanks to these advancements that we all — all — a — ”_

The movie froze, followed by the screen going black. The lights were out in the hallway too, and the window shades didn’t open themselves as they were programmed to do, leaving only a sliver of light to reach the classroom.

“Not again!” a girl in the first row whined.

“See? I told you they hadn’t fixed it!”

“You think a monster got into the power plant?”

Ms. Wilson cleared her throat, and the classroom grew quiet. “Well, since we have some time, let’s get some fresh air. Bring something so you can study.”

Outside, the first grade and third grade classes had already gathered on the spongy green plastic of the lawn, with the fourth graders emerging from their nearby door. Ms. Wilson herded her students into a clump, then left to meet with the other teachers. Not only were all the lights in the school out, but so were the guidelights along the street. A roving survey robot sat on the sidewalk, the glow gone from the bulb in its head and chest. Even the simulated sunlight of the dome above didn’t seem quite bright enough for this late in the morning.

Tony opened his notebook in his lap, but the words wouldn’t stay still long enough to read. The thin recycled paper felt ready to tear in his fingers. “That wasn’t monstrous biology,” he muttered. “That was just history.”

Arlene shrugged. Out in the dome light, Tony could see that her ponytail was crooked and graft bandages covered the skin between her skirt and stockings. “To be fair, it was just the introduction. Maybe the power died before we got to anything too wild.”

“I don’t know. Why are they so scared of telling us anything? If they want people to go into monstrous biology, we have to know about monsters! They can’t keep dancing around the subject with career placements coming up!”

“We know, Tony!” Arlene said, loud enough for some of the other students to stare at them. She lowered her voice. “Well, if you want to see something real scary, the theater’s got a new movie called _Invasion of the Saucer Monsters._ I was going to go see it after school, and you could come with me. Mr. Brown’s promised me it’s a real killer.”

The cluster of teachers had moved closer to the school gates. A man and a woman, both dressed in the gray and purple work suits of the Department of Safety’s securers, waited for them, each carrying a data box under one arm. Tony leaned towards the adults, but he couldn’t hear anything.

“Tony? Are you listening?”  

“Yeah, I heard you. Maybe I’ll come.”

He opened his notebook again and forced his gaze back onto the page. Even if they wouldn’t tell him anything about real monstrous biology, he could focus on the science they would teach. He had to. There had to be _something_ he could figure out now…

The teachers finally broke apart and returned to their classes. Ms. Wilson waited for the fifth graders to quiet themselves.

“Children, we’ve learned that the power outage is very serious and will not be fixed until tomorrow, so we’re sending you home for the day.” She held out a stack of paper packets. “Here is your homework for tonight. And please, go straight home. We don’t want your parents worrying about where you are.”

The kids rose and gathered around her. Tony had just taken a packet from her when the ground shook hard enough to make him stumble back. Arlene grabbed onto him to steady herself.

“Please, don’t worry!” Ms. Wilson shouted over the rising voices of the students. “It’s probably just the repair crew working on something underground. Now hurry home!”

The female securer whispered something to her compatriot, and they turned and headed for the warehouse district. Tony set his face and headed after them, walking like he was just strolling home, Arlene not far behind.

\---

When Morrowtown was first built, the warehouses had held supplies for the whole city until the greenhouses and recycling plants were finished. Most of them had been demolished and turned into houses when the residential district couldn’t hold the population anymore, but a few still survived.

The securers kept stopping and checking their data boxes, so it didn’t take long for Tony and Arlene to catch up with them. With the tall walls casting shadows and small gaps between the warehouses, along with the dome’s weakened lights, it was easy to stay out sight. It got even easier when the securers stopped near a stack of plastic crates.

“It’s on the move,” the man said. From here, Tony could make out the colored squares on his data box’s screen. “It might be aware of us.”

“The others are on the way to surround the area. It can’t get far.” The woman turned and started back the way they’d came, forcing Tony and Arlene to shrink even further behind the boxes. “It might try to escape back through the breach.” 

Tony’s heart skipped a beat. A power outage, even a deliberate one, was one thing, but a breach?

“There’s a monster around here,” he whispered once both adults were far enough away.

“You don’t know that!” Arlene’s hands curled into fists even as they shook. “Maybe someone accidentally broke the dome and is just hiding so he doesn’t get in trouble!”

“They have special sensors for monsters, right? They’d know.” Tony leaned over the crates, looking for any signs of the beast — footprints or scales or slimy drool, something like that. “There!”

He hurried over to the fragment of leaf left on the ground and held it up.

Arlene joined him, frowning. “That’s probably just from the greenhouses.”

“On the other side of town? And aren’t there plant monsters?” Tony spotted another couple of leaf pieces, leading towards the door of a nearby warehouse. The door was just open enough that Tony and Arlene could push it open along its rails.

The air in here was cool and smelled organic, like in the greenhouses, but much brighter and more bitter. Leaves and broken branches littered the floor, along with a few chunks of building polymer. At the center of this mess in a patch of alien light lay a young man, maybe in his early twenties. His dark brown hair stuck out past his ears. He wore a white and red shirt, and trousers made of blue — what was that called? Demin? The greenhouse workers used to wear it, but it had been phased out for the latest class of synth fabric. A cap with a flat brim had landed not far from his head. A red and white ball sat in one hand. Bruises spotted his arms and neck and his eyes were squeezed shut, but at least he was breathing.

“No way…” Arlene pushed past Tony so she could lean over the stranger. “He can’t really be from the outside, can he?”

Tony wanted to answer her, but his throat wouldn’t make a sound. He’d looked up, not just at the hole in the warehouse ceiling, but the hole in the sky, and the light pouring in from above.

“Maybe something attacked him, he looks hurt. Do you think we should take him to a med center? But then we’d get in trouble for not going home…I guess we could take him there and leave before they ask any questions — but what if a monster follows him and attacks all the patients?”

Tony’s eyes were adjusting to the light. A massive tree branch was caught partway through the roof, the strap of a yellow bag tangled in the boughs. It was several feet above his head, but Tony found a stick long enough to, after several pokes, knock it free and retrieve it.

“Do you think he can hear us?” Arlene waved her hands in front of the stranger’s face. “Hello? Are you okay? Maybe he doesn’t speak our language.” She reached for the ball. “What’s this? I didn’t think they could make plastic on the outside…”

The stranger’s hand clenched around the ball, pulling it away from her.

Arlene squeaked, then scowled and planted her hands on her hips. “Oh, so you _are_ awake! You had me real worried, you know. Why didn’t you say anything?”

The stranger sat up, wincing. He slipped the ball back in his pocket, while his other hand felt for his hat.

“I’m Arlene, and that’s Tony.” Arlene pointed her arm in Tony’s direction. “What’s your name? You do have a name, right?”

The stranger licked his lips, but a high-pitched squeal spoke first, not far from them. His eyes widened, and he leapt to his feet, snatched the bag from Tony’s hands, and bolted for the door.

“Wait!” Arlene got between him and the door in time. “You don’t know what’s out there! If it’s a monster, it’ll attack all of us!”

Tony peered out the door, and his stomach dropped when he saw the gray and purple work suits. “It’s the securers!” he whispered, ducking back into the warehouse.

“Good. We can sneak out, and they’ll find him and take him to a med center and catch the monster.”

“What? No! He’d be in quarantine for weeks, maybe even months. I want to ask him about monsters _now._ ”

“That’s all you can think ab — ” Arlene started to splutter, but a _crack_ split the air, loud enough to rattle the warehouse’s walls. The stranger threw his arms around Tony and Arlene, pulling them to the ground as the securers outside shouted, followed by several loud crashes. Every hair on Tony’s neck stood on end.

After several long, too quiet seconds, the stranger straightened up. Tony moved to follow him, but he held out his arm in front of the children, his other hand in his pocket. They kept behind him as he stepped through the door.

Several more branches, along with a few more pieces of polymer, were now caught between the warehouses. Strips of bark had been torn away, leaving the wood beneath burned. Something fuzzy and yellow hung over the lowest branch. The securers must have retreated for backup, as they were nowhere in sight.

Slowly and carefully, the stranger pulled the yellow thing from the branch, cradling it in his arms. For the first time, Tony could hear him muttering under his breath. He turned towards the kids, giving them a clear look at the thing’s brown stripes, its red cheeks, its long ears, its strange tail bent in multiple places.

Tony’s heart felt ready to beat its way out of his chest. “That’s — that’s a monster!”


	2. The Crawling Invasion

The stranger started towards Tony and Arlene, still cradling the monster.

“What are you doing?” Tony backed away, thought he kept himself in front of Arlene. “That’s dangerous! You can’t bring it deeper into the city!”

“I think it’s hurt,” Arlene said.

“So? It’s a monster!”

The stranger frowned. He shifted the monster so he could hold it with one arm against his chest, then with his other hand removed an orangish-red device, about the size of a wallet, from his pocket. Flicking the cover open with his thumb, he tapped a few buttons, then held it out to Tony. 

Tony took it. How could it be so thin and light? Even the most recent model of data boxes was bigger and heavier. And despite the screens being smaller than the palm of his hand, the picture on it was crisper and more colorful than any he’d ever seen.

“ _Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon,”_ he read out loud. “Is Pokémon the outsider word for monster?”

The stranger tilted his head, but nodded nonetheless.

“Then are you some kind of monster scientist?” Tony said. The stranger walked away from him. “Hey, wait!” He ran after the stranger. “Where are you going?”

“The securers will be back soon,” Arlene said as she caught up with him. “Are you really sure about this?”

“Yes!”

“Okay.” Arlene took a deep breath. “Then I know where we can hide him.”

\---

“What happens if Mr. Brown finds you here?” Tony said as Arlene struggled with the lock. “Will he ban you from the theater?”

“It’s okay, I’ve done this before. No one’s here right now.” Arlene finally pushed the back door open. “C’mon!”

The movie theater was only a few blocks from the warehouse district, and most people were inside at their jobs, but Tony couldn’t stop checking over his shoulder. The group stepped into the hallway. Most of the lights were off, but the eyes of monsters and the actors they terrorized stared at them from the wall. Tony found a spot between the posters for _Invasion of the Saucer Monsters_ and _The Hideous Sun Creature._

“No one’s going to bother us in here,” he said as the stranger knelt and set the monster on the floor before slipping his bag off his shoulder. “Hey, since we’re alone, can I ask you some questions? Do you know a lot about monsters? What can you tell me about them?”

The stranger glanced at him for a moment, then opened his bag to remove a spray bottle.

“This isn’t normal, is it?” Tony whispered to Arlene. “I think that monster has him under its control.”

“I know,” Arlene whispered back, “but we can’t just take the monster away now, he’d crack up. You remember the boy in — what was it, _Valley of the Giants_? Even after they got him away from the monsters, he kept trying to go back to them until they could really show him what they were. Besides, it’s a little one. If gets free, how much damage can it cause?”

“I guess.” Tony looked down at the monster (what did that device call it? Pikachu?). Its tail and ears twitched, and a pair of black eyes opened among the yellow fur. Actually, now that he was getting used to it, it wasn’t very threatening. Compared to all the fangs and claws and horrifying powers found in textbooks and movies, it was almost disappointing.

“Red.”

Both Tony and Arlene started and looked over their shoulders before realizing where the voice came from.

“My name is Red,” the stranger said. His voice was low and hesitant. “It’s…hard for me to talk, especially with strangers.”

Arlene frowned. “Is that why you didn’t say anything? Why is that? Did the monsters do something to your mouth or your brain or — ”

“Arlene,” Tony said tersely. A weight had dropped into his stomach. “I guess you can’t tell me anything about monsters, then.”

Red pointed at Tony’s pocket. He’d forgotten about the device in it. “You want this back, don’t you?”

Red shook his head.

The weight leapt back up into Tony’s chest, heart pounding. “Then can I use this to read about monsters?” He opened the device and began to scroll through the entries past Pikachu’s. “I promise, I’ll give it back, I’ll just copy everything in my notebook and…Uh, how many monsters are in here?”

“Maybe that’s why they don’t tell us anything,” Arlene said, looking over his shoulder. “There’s just too many of them. What’s that one? A tree? Ooh, that one looks like the one from _Fire Monsters from Outer Space!_ ”

Something popped, followed by a flash of light and the rushing of air. Tony looked up and his jaw dropped while Arlene gasped. Before them now, an orange beast bigger than either than them sat on its back legs. Its head was long and horned. A pair of wings with bluish membrane unfolded from its shoulders. At the tip of its tail burned a small flame.

“There’s another one!” he stammered. “Where’d it come from?”

Red stepped out from behind the fire beast and put his hand on its snout. It growled, head dipping and wings stretching. For the first time, Tony noticed that one drooped more than the other, darker spots across the membrane. Red reached towards the wing, and the fire monster pulled back, snarling.    

_Run,_ the tiny part of Tony’s brain that still worked said, but his legs wouldn’t move. _It can still hurt you!_

Pikachu sat on its hind legs and squeaked, tail raised. The fire monster looked in the same direction. In the distance, the glass doors of the lobby rattled.

Arlene tensed. “Something’s here!”

“It’s okay, it’s probably just the securers.” Tony started for the lobby. “I’ll take care of it.” _I need a story,_ he thought as he walked. _We got out of school early and wanted to see a movie and the door was unlocked…no, that makes us sound like delinquents. We thought we saw a monster and hid here. Yeah, we were being responsible by staying safe._

He turned the corner and reached the lobby just in time to see the glass of the door shatter.

A small monster, mostly magenta but with black markings and a green back segment, skittered over the wreckage on four pairs of legs. Several glowing blue crystals poked out of its carapace. Its blank eyes were the same color. Other monsters of the same type crawled in after it.

_Maybe they didn’t see me,_ Tony thought before they all screeched and charged towards him. His legs took over for his brain, and he turned and ran. “There are monsters here!” he shouted as he rounded the corner towards Red and Arlene.

“What?” Arlene stumbled back and pressed herself against the wall, inching towards the nearest theater’s door. “We gotta hide!”

Instead, Red snapped his fingers.

“Chu!” Pikachu dropped onto all four paws and raised its tail. Tony felt the hairs on his neck and arms rise before a blast of electricity split the air. Most of the monsters scattered in time, but a few were caught in the light, collapsing as their carapaces sizzled.

The fire monster threw back its head and roared, only to snap it head forward, sparks dropping from between its clenched teeth. One wing stretched out, and the bruised one tried to do the same. Red placed his hand on its jaw and muttered something before holding up one of those red and white balls and pressing the button. The fire monster turned into light and disappeared in the ball.

“How does that work?” Tony muttered as Arlene shouted, “They’re coming back!”

The monsters still on their feet surged forward, spitting purplish needles at the group. One narrowly missed Tony’s head, embedding itself in the wall next to him; the vapor rising from it stung his eyes. Pikachu fired off another burst of electricity, blasting away several more, but more poured in through the broken glass. Red slipped another ball out of his pocket, then pointed at the back door.

“You don’t need to say that twice!” Arlene sprinted for the door, Tony close behind her. Once outside, both of them collapsed against the wall, panting.

“What are those things?” Tony took out Red’s device and continued to flip through the monsters. The list suddenly scrolled faster than his finger could tap the button, finally stopping on the image of the magenta monster. “ _Venipede, the Centipede Pokémon,_ ” he read.

“Well, that’s convenient that…it…” Arlene’s voice trailed off. “Tony?” she managed.

Tony lost his grip on the device when he saw the Venipede in front of him. It hissed, and its two small tails began to turn purple, slick with liquid. It lunged forward, swinging its tail towards Tony, and he narrowly scrambled out of the way. A few drops dripped onto his shoulder; even through his shirt, his skin began to blister.

Arlene’s foot stomped down, narrowly missing the Venipede. “Stay away!” she shouted, kicking at it. “Stay away, stay away, _stay away!_ ”

Her foot finally connected with the crystal, hitting it hard enough to dislodge it from the Venipede’s carapace. The monster squealed, legs thrashing, and then its eyes turned yellow. It dropped to the ground and whined. 

“Huh?” Arlene lowered her foot. “Did the crystal do something to it?”

“It must have.” Tony reached out to touch the Venipede’s head, even as his shoulder burned. Sparks danced at the edge of his eyes. When his fingers felt the smooth shell between its antennae, it clicked and tried to scuttle closer. “Maybe there’s a way to make them not want to hurt you…There’s a trick to it…”

A massive boom shook the theater hard enough to throw Tony and Arlene away from the wall. Venipede screeched and scurried away. Tony tried to push himself up on his elbows to follow, but his arm gave out underneath him. The pain was spreading through the surrounding muscles. A bunch of gray-clad legs rushed into view.

“Those monsters are getting away!” An adult voice shouted. “Secure the perimeter!”

Someone pulled Tony up by the back of his shirt. “What are these kids doing here? Someone, get them to safety, now!”

\---

Only a few minutes had passed since the doctor had finished with Tony and sent him to the waiting room, but it felt like an hour. The cold air pumping into the room wasn’t enough to stop the sweat sticking to his skin. At least his shoulder didn’t sting anymore. Arlene sat in the chair next to him, staring at her hands. Words kept almost rising to his mouth, but he always choked them down.

“I’m sorry,” he finally managed.

“Stop,” Arlene muttered. “I wanted to see them too.”

“Excuse me,” a man’s voice said. “You’re Tony and Arlene, yes?”

Tony looked up, and it only took him a moment to recognize the man in the suit holding a data box. “Dr. Gideon?”

Dr. Gideon smiled. “You recognize me? You must have started your monstrous biology modules.” He sat in one of the chairs across from them. “You both look like you’re doing alright. Are you feeling okay? Today must have been terrifying.”

“I’m fine,” Arlene said in a small voice, while Tony could just nod.

“Very good.” He looked down at his data box. “I’ve been studying your records from school. It says here you’re both intelligent students, and usually quite disciplined. Arlene, I see you’ve expressed an interest in becoming an actress?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Dr. Gideon chuckled. “Well, being an actress requires following the director’s instructions, right? And you, Tony, you’re interested in monstrous biology. Well, the first rule of working with monsters is to always keep your distance. Even trained professionals can be badly hurt if they’re not careful. You’re very lucky you weren’t injured any worse.”

“I understand that, sir,” Tony mumbled, unable to meet his gaze. “Where’s Red?”

“Oh, is that his name? He hasn’t said a word to us. He’s alright, he’s still with the doctors. He could have a disease that only appears on the outside, so we want to make sure he’s nice and healthy before he meets anyone else.”

“So you’re letting him stay?” There was much more energy in Arlene’s voice now.

“Of course! Morrowtown was built as a safe haven for all of humanity.” Dr. Gideon leaned a little closer to them. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. We’ve taken in people from the outside before, but they all kept it a secret so people wouldn’t be suspicious.”

“Really?” Arlene said. “Anyone we would know?”

Dr. Gideon winked. “I can’t tell you that.” His face grew serious as sat back in his chair. “You know, it must be scary, being introduced to a whole new world, finding out that everything you thought you knew about monsters is a lie…I’m sure Red must feel very lost right now. A couple of friends who could help him fit in would help him so much. You two already seem to know him, so once he’s ready, maybe you can show him around? You can do that for me, right?”

“Yes, Doctor! I wanted to get to know him better anyway…”

Dr. Gideon’s gaze shifted onto Tony. “And you?”

“I think I can.”

“Very good.” Dr. Gideon stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work I must take care of. There are still some monsters loose in the dome, so the entire city’s in lockdown until the securers can deal with them, so you’ll have to stay here a little longer. You probably have some homework you can work on now.” He reached the door and as it slid open, looked over at them. “And next time you see a monster, tell an adult, okay?”

Arlene sighed and sunk deeper in her chair. “That went better than I thought it would…Still, my mom’s gonna flip. You think you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Right.”

The vent in the ceiling rattled, and Tony looked up. Two pairs of eyes, one dark framed by fur and the other yellow from within a carapace, stared down at him. Pikachu squeaked, then the little red data box fell through the vent’s slats into Tony’s lap.

Monsters can trick you, right? They can pretend to be your friend so they can use you.

But what if that trick really could be turned on them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long time between this chapter and the last one. Thank you for reading, and as always, any feedback is appreciated.


	3. What Can Morrowtown Do For You?

_“We can’t live like this, honey! What shall we do?”_

Red groaned and rubbed his head. Why did his tongue and fingertips feel so tingly? At least all those doctors who wouldn’t stop asking him questions were gone.

_“I don’t know, dear! We want to have a peaceful life, but it’s always ruined by the monsters! Every time we try to do something, it gets smashed, burned, drowned, frozen, electrified, poisoned, or something else new and horrible!”_

It took Red’s eyes a moment to focus on the black and white movie, or at least a movie that would have been black and white if the small screen wasn’t so green-tinted. He’d been left in a chair in a small room of that white plastic-looking material that made up all the buildings here. A cavity in the wall held a bed, or at least a slab of plastic large enough to lie on; someone had left some folded white fabric on it. Another wall partially hid what looked to be a bathroom. There wasn’t a visible door, just big white panels in the walls.

_“And even if the wild monsters don’t break it, those hooligans who bow to them show up and crush our dreams!”_  the woman on the screen lamented. _“It’s horrible! I can’t take it anymore!”_ She and a man, both dressed in clothing from several decades ago, stood in a ruined kitchen. A few tree branches had fallen onto the table through the hole in the ceiling, while smoke rose from scorch marks on the walls. Water had risen to their ankles.

_“Oh, if only there was a place where we could live, happy and safe from the monsters!”_ the man said, putting his arm over her shoulder. _“I would take you there in an instant!”_

_“What if I told you that Morrowtown is such a place?”_  a deep male voice boomed.

Red stood, legs adjusting to his weight. All those bruises and scrapes he’d picked up during Char’s crash landing had been patched up with some kind of mock skin, but they still ached. He could live with this. He’d been in worse shape before.

_"But that’s not possible!”_ the woman sighed. _“Monsters are everywhere in the world!”_

_“It is possible!”_ the narrator said. _“Morrowtown is the one place where humans can thrive without the threat of monsters! We’ve lasted for decades without any monsters attacking or harassing us!”_

Red pressed his hand against the wall and began to run it along the smooth panels, feeling for anything unusual. They’d taken his bag, so that was another thing to worry about. Char’s injuries weren’t life-threatening, and the stasis of the Poké ball should keep him from getting worse, but if he didn’t get that wing looked at soon…And legendaries knew where Volt was now, assuming they hadn’t caught him too.

_“But how do you live?”_ the man said. _“As horrible as they are, we’re dependent on monsters for so much. We can’t grow food without them, we can’t build or light our homes without them, we can’t travel, we can’t collect or shape natural resources, we can’t escape the harshest cold or heat…What could ever take the monsters’ place?”_

_“Why, human imagination and technology, of course! Morrowtown is powered by a state-of-the-art hydroelectric generator which uses an underground river to power everything we need. Our greenhouses produce more than enough food, all delicious and nutritious. We recycle everything, and through advanced robotics, we can collect any resources we still need from the wilds. We have all the comforts of the modern age without being dependent on monsters!”_

Red glanced at the screen, eyebrows raised. First Pokémon were a threat to everyone, now they were a burden that humans couldn’t survive without? And why did they keep calling Pokémon ‘monsters’? Was that a weird dialect thing here?

_“Oh, it sounds like a dream come true…”_ the woman sighed before growing worried again. _“But what if the monsters find Morrowtown? They’ll want their revenge for us running away!”_

_“We are well-protected against any monster attacks! The dome makes sure nothing can get in, and is camouflaged with reflective paneling, so the monsters won’t even find us! If they did, all the air and water that passes in and out of Morrowtown are filtered, and there’s a protective metal layer beneath us to keep anything from attacking from underground. But even if there was a breach, our trained securers and advanced security robots will protect you and the other civilians!”_

So the securers were the people who’d dragged Red off after they found him. Still, Char had burst through the dome once. He could do it again. And assuming they didn’t patch that hole he’d already made, Char wouldn’t need to again.

_“This is incredible, honey!”_ The man said. _“We should start a new life there at once!”_

The woman now wore the same huge, vacant smile as him. _“Of course, dear! But just one more question…_ _why haven’t we heard about this amazing place before?”_

Finally, one of the panels beneath Red’s hands clicked. He could press it in an inch or so, but it wouldn’t give any further, let alone open. If he had something small or sharp, maybe he could get in the gap between panels and pry it off…He looked around the room again, searching for a pen or nail or even just a shard of something.

The narrator’s voice became a bit more somber. _“There are humans out there who benefit from the monsters’ reign of terror. They’ve made themselves the monsters’ favorites and gotten powerful from it, so if more people knew there was a sanctuary from the monsters or any way to live without them, they would lose everything. They would do anything to make sure nobody knows, and unfortunately a lot of people will listen to them.”_

Red caught sight of the people on the screen in the corner of his eye and froze. He recognized several of those faces, especially the one he’d seen for as long as he could remember.

_Professor?_

_“But don’t worry!”_ The narrator’s cheerful tone was back. _“We have big plans for the future! And we’d like to invite not just you, but all of humanity, to join us! Don’t you want to be part of something new and wonderful?”_

_“Of course we do!”_ the man and woman chorused.

Red rolled his eyes at the screen, even as his shoulders tensed. So. Apparently they had people like that even here, shut off from the rest of the world. People who declared themselves the only ones who could save the world and showed it by tearing it apart. There’d been way too many of them in the last decade or so. And these ones had their eyes on the rest of the world, even outside their own region. And if they knew who Professor Oak was…what did they know about him?  

It was probably for the best if he didn’t stick around to find out. How long is this anyway?

Red picked up the clothes on the bed and wrapped them around his right hand, then turned back to the screen.

_“Welcome to your new home!_ _Once you settle down in Morrowtown, you’ll never want to leave!”_

Red took a deep breath, then punched his fist through the glass.

\---

“Why are you doing this?”

Tony had dragged his chair under the vent and stood on it, trying to undo the screws with a pen. “There’s still a lot we don’t know. We’ve got a couple of monsters here now, we should take advantage of that while we can.”

“We’ve got this!” Arlene held up Red’s data box. “We should give it to Doctor Gideon! I bet it would help the scientists so much! You’d be a hero to them!”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one who discovered any of that, so it doesn’t count!”

“Is that all you’re worried about?”

The screws finally came loose, and the grate flopped open, dumping the monsters on top of Tony, nearly knocking him off the chair. “Ah! Careful!”

Pikachu jumped to the floor, landing on all four paws with his tail raised, while Venipede skittered across the tiles.

“I’m still not sure what you’re trying to do…” Arlene sighed before turning to Venipede. “And you better not try anything again! Oh I’ll — I’ll — ”

Venipede’s antennae drooped, and he shrank into the corner.

“I didn’t even — can monsters feel fear? They never get scared in the movies…” Arlene glanced at Tony. “You know more about this than I do.”

“I’m not sure I do.” Tony crouched in front of Pikachu so he could look him in the eye. “Okay. How does Red do it? Because you don’t attack him…is it just because he feeds you?”

Pikachu’s head slightly tilted, ears drooping back and eyes growing larger. “Pi?”

“And you’re not attacking me. Maybe it’s just because you can get something out of me, but I don’t have anything to give you.” He tensed, like admitting that was an invitation to attack. “I’m just a kid.”

His breath caught as Pikachu pushed against his leg. A jolt of static electricity crossed the skin of his shin, but the fur was surprisingly soft. His hand almost moved on its own, reaching towards Pikachu’s back.

Something thumped in the hallway. Pikachu’s ears and tail stuck straight up, and he ran to the door.

“You can’t just run out like that,” Tony said, even as he walked to the door and pressed his hand against the control panel next to it. The door remained shut.

“Why’d they lock us in? We weren’t going to run off and get in more trouble, right?” Arlene shot Tony a look before knocking on the door. As the warning sirens’ screams began to fill the air, her fists pounded against the polymer. “Hey! What’s going on? Hello? Anyone?”

Venipede made himself even smaller in the corner, while Pikachu tapped Arlene on the leg with his tail. “What do you want?” she said, stepping back.

Pikachu nudged for Tony to step back too, then lunged at the panel, electricity licking across his fur. The impact released a flash of light and a loud _pop,_ and the door half-slid open as smoke drifted through the cracks left in the plastic.

“So much for not getting in any more trouble…” Arlene stuck her head through the opening. “Hey! Anyone there? We’re over — MONSTERS!”

“Don’t tell them they’re here!” Tony started to say, but his voice trailed off when he saw the vines crawling up the walls of the hallway, some digging through the polymer. All of them sprouted from a massive plant, except that plants shouldn’t have eyes. More of those blue crystals protruded from its bulbous yellow body. Those eyes locked onto the door, the leaf on its top lifted back, showing a mouth rimmed in fangs, and it screeched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a short chapter, I know, but I wanted to finally get some more content up. Apologies again for the wait. Comments are always welcome.


End file.
